The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1887-01-06
FURMAN's FARMING.

generally was attracted to the work o
Mr.. Parish Furman, who began the eulti
vation of a scrub farm" near Millidge
vile, Georgia, and in five years iscrsase,
the product from eight bales Of eoespa t
one. .hwadred That the methods whicl
produced such results might be mad,
known to the agricultural world. the nov
famous Henry w. Grady, Of the Atlant,
Constitution, visited Mr.. Furman ct his
farm and prepared the following article
for that paper We commend it to the
study of Florida farmers: ~
I suppose there are few readers Of the
Constitution..who do not remember Far.
ish Furman.
He was bright and brainy senator in
1s76-led the capital campaign against
Atlanta-was mentioned for Congress
and / always esteemed him as one of the
best equipped and most capable of our
Young politicians. few yeara ago he 0uit
politics and went to farming. knara
that he had settled On a thin piece of
land with poor prospects, and in common
dropped out of affairs.
At the last agricultural convention he
electrified the old farmers of the State
with the details of the most astonishing
five years farming ever done in South
ern State, and is to-day more talked about
in the State than if he served in Congress
twenty years.
have heard the record of this wonder
full work several times within the past few
months, and the comment with which it
is usually greeted is, don't believe it.
l simply say that have the authority Of
at least three excellent gentlemen for the
truth of the following main points:
Furman started work with sixty-fve
acres OF the very poorest land in middle
Georgia FIVE years ago. The first year he
made eight bales of cotton on the sixty
five acres. This shows that it was the
poorest of scrub land.
The second year he put FIVE hundred
pounds of compost to the acre, and made
twelve bales of cotton where be made
eight before.
The third year he used thousand
pounds of compost to the acre, increased
Lno ylc1U Ou Iuo ciAC y-HNO oSAOo W tWcuty-
three bales.
The fourth year he used two thousand
pounds Of compost to the acre, and in-
creased his crop to forty-seven bales on
sixty-6ve acres.
The fifth he used four thousand pounds
of compost to the acre, and his crop is
certainly about eighty TO the sixty
acres. and may reach a hundred bales.
He has done all this work with two
plows, and eighteen days extra blowing.
His official and detailed statement shows
that the total expenses were $4,000, and
his net profits, 81 ,725. A fine record on
a two-horse farm. In addition the land
that was worth IS an acre five years ago
is now worth 800 an acre, as with two
mules this year, he has raised at least
eighty bales of cotton, thousand bush
els of oats, and tour hundred bushels of
corn.
Isn't that better record than he could
have made in Congress Hasn't he done
the State more good by this demonstra-
tion than he could have done by ten years
of political speeches?
WHAT MR.. FURMAN SAYS ABOUT 1T.
/ had talk with Mr.. Furman to-day.
He is the very picture of health, prosper
ity, and intelligent enthusiasm. With a
perfectly independent income, and the
secret of a better one in his hand, he is
truly happy man. He p6id to me:
"When I determined to 60 to farming
FIVE years years ago, saw that it would
not do to farm in the old way. saw
farmers around me getting poorer every
day, though they worked like slaves. /
saw them starving their land so that
each year their yield was scantier and
their farms less valuable. | saw that it
was still the plow following the az, and
that a. farmer starved one piece of land
he cleared out a new piece. With s0O,-
600 immigrants pouring into this country,
and the public domain virtually pre-
empted, realized that this. wasteful sys-
tenn must stop somewhere and soon.
Worse than all, | saw that my own land,
rented to small farmers,
WAS 25 PER CENT. POORER AND LESS VAL
UABLE
Than it was few years ago, and that 1t
would soon cease to pay me rent. knew
that Georgia was blessed with the best
conditions of season and soil, and that if
properly treated it would yield large
results.
81 therefore selected sixty-fve acres of
the poorest land had and went to work.
The first thing, of course, was to enrich
the soil. To do this there was but one
way-to feed it, and to give it more food
than the crops took from it, and above
all, to give it the proper food. I knew
that certain phosphate manures stimu-
lated the soil 80 that it produced heavy
crops for awhile, and then fell off, I
wanted none of this. i did not believe in
soil analysis. That was not exact enough.
TESTING THE APPETITE OF THE EARTH.
"What wanted to know exactly what
a perfect cotton plant took from the soil.
That ascertained, then to restore to the
soil exactly those elements in larger
quantities than the crop had abstracted
them. This is the basis Of intensive farm
ing, and it will always give land that is
richer wear after year. I had a cotton
plant analysed, and found that it needed
eight elements in my manure, of which
commercial fertilizers furnished only
three, and the soil only one. therefore,
determined to buy chemicals and mix them
with humus, muck, decayed leaves, stable
manure. and cotton seed till l had secured
exactly what was needed. I did so, and